


The Doctor and Sarah 01: The Deadly Assassin

by fardell24



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:07:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24286360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fardell24/pseuds/fardell24
Summary: The Doctor and Sarah arrive on Gallifrey where the Doctor tries to prevent the Assassination of the Time Lord President.
Kudos: 1





	The Doctor and Sarah 01: The Deadly Assassin

**The Doctor and Sarah 01: The Deadly Assassin**

**Prologue**

_Through the Millennia, the Time Lords of Gallifrey live a life of peace and ordered calm; protected against all threats from lesser civilisations by their great power. But this was to change. Suddenly and terribly, the Time Lords were about to face their most dangerous crisis in their long history..._

**Part 1**

**The Capitol, Gallifrey**

The Doctor’s TARDIS materialised in an area of the Capitol. Even before it started materialising an alarm sounded.

“ _Sector Seven, Sector Seven, alert! Unauthorised capsule entry imminent. Repeat, unauthorised capsule entry imminent. Stand by on sector seven._ ”

Guards came running. They were in position before materialisation was complete.

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor saw Sarah leave the console room and go into the corridors. He turned to the scanner. “Right outside the capitol itself. I’m in trouble now.” He activated the viewscreen. “Chancery Guards. What a welcome home,” he said disparagingly.

A Time Lord and a Guard Commander approached the TARDIS.

“It looks...”

“Yes?” the Time Lord asked.

“If I didn’t know better, Castellan, I’d swear it was a Type 40.

“It is.”

The Doctor listened in via the scanner. “ _But that’s impossible. There are no Type 40’s in service. They’re out of commission, obsolete,_ ” the Guard Commander stated in disbelief.

The Doctor was outraged. “Obsolete?” He turned to the console. “Twaddle! Take no notice, my dear old thing.”

“ _Nevertheless, Commander, this is a TARDIS. It’s in an unauthorised zone. I want the occupants arrested._ ” The Doctor looked up at that. “ _The barrier on this model is a double curtain trimonic, so you will need a cipher indent key to get in._ ”

_“Very well, Castellan. I’ll send for one._ ” The Commander gave him a nod.

“ _After you have arrested the personnel, impound the machine_ ,” the Castellan directed.

_“Of course, Castellan. Will you want me to question the..._ ”

The Castellan interrupted. “ _Eventually, yes. But not on a Presidential Resignation Day, Hildred._ ”

“Presidential Resignation Day!” the Doctor realised. He saw the Castellan depart the area.

The Doctor continued to watch the screen...

He saw the Castellan go away. He then saw that the guards were waiting for the key to be delivered.

“I have to warn the President somehow,” he mused. He thought about the situation. He knew that he had to do _something_.

Meanwhile, Sarah Jane was in the library, at the secondary console. She was viewing the scanner screen. She thus knew that the Doctor was in serious trouble. (She also didn’t want to know what more advanced TARDIS’s were capable of.) She looked around at the library and wondered if there were any books that would help in the situation that they were in. The size of the library was overwhelming. She turned back to the secondary console. Was there an electronic index?

The Doctor overheard the Castellan’s voice on the Commander’s wrist communicator. “The occupant of your Type Forty is a convicted criminal. Approach with caution.”

“ _Very good, Castellan_.” The commander turned to his men. “ _Set your stasers_.”

“I must get past them and warn the President!” He then reconsidered. “But, how, without putting Sarah in danger?”

Fortunately, the door on the wood panelled console room could be locked from the corridor side. If he could get to the main console room quickly enough. But first he needed to create a distraction. He took the hat stand and moved it closer to the console. He then put a coat over it, to make it look like he was there. He also wrote a note saying that the President was in danger, and put it on the coat. He then dashed out of the room and locked the door.

Hildred entered the incongruous Type 40. He realised that the chameleon circuit must be malfunctioning. It was stuck in camouflage mode.

“Right, follow me,” he said to his unit.

The Doctor entered the main console room and flipped a switch on the console, reassigning the control of the TARDIS away from the wood panelled console room. He used the scanner to check that the guards were all in that console room. He saw that they were all in the TARDIS. ‘Good!’

 _“Don’t move! I said, don’t move!_ ” He saw the Commander move to look at the Doctor’s distraction...

“Time to go...”

Hildred approached the occupant of the Type Forty, except that it wasn’t. It was a diversion! He picked up a letter. _The President is in danger!_ He then and saw the occupant in the scanner screen, outside the Type Forty! “There he goes! Quick!”

Some of the guards attempted to leave the capsule by the way that they had come in, but quickly found that impossible. “Commander!”

“He must have switched control rooms. That’s clever! Quick, we can find the other control room if we’re quick enough.” He went to the door and immediately found that it was locked. “Of course.”

In the library, Sarah laughed. The Doctor had effectually corralled them into a trap. She wondered how they would get out.

“The door’s locked, find the switch in here. Quickly,” Hildred ordered.

“Yes. Commander,” a guard nodded.

‘Of course,’ Sarah thought. She wondered how soon they would find that switch. She hoped that it would take some time.

The Doctor arrived at a lift and summoned it. Unfortunately a guard arrived in it. ‘Oops!’ the Doctor thought.

The guard indicated to the Doctor to go back where he had come from, before he’s shot by a mysterious figure. The Doctor looked around for the figure, but he only caught a glimpse of him, vanishing into the shadows.

“Hey, just a minute! Excuse me!” The Doctor then selected a floor and quickly ran away from the scene...

After a minute searching, Hildred switched the TARDIS control back to the wood panelled console room. “That’s it, Quick!” He and his men then filed out of the TARDIS.

Sarah saw the guards leaving the TARDIS. “What now?” she wondered. She was safe, for the moment (if she kept the door to the console room locked), but she wanted to know more about Gallifrey...

She started to think whether it would be worth the risk to do some investigation.

Hildred and his men ran up to the fallen guard a minute later. “Coyned. He's got into the tower. You'll have to check every floor.” He activated his wrist communicator. “All guards report to main tower, sector seven. Dangerous intruder at large.” He then went to report to the Castellan, taking the letter that the renegade had written.

Sarah saw that the Doctor was returning. She left the library.

The Doctor approached the TARDIS and poked the sonic screwdriver in through the doors. He then used it to reverse the console room control switch. He withdrew his arm as it did its work. He then dashed into the main console room.

The Doctor and Sarah met outside the wood panelled console room. “Sarah! The danger hasn’t passed,” the Doctor said as he unlocked the room.

“I’m curious, Doctor,” Sarah said, folding her arms.

“Of course, but in this case, it’s ill advised,” the Doctor said with a shake of his head.

“How so?”

“You may be returned to Earth, without the memories of your journeys with me,” the Doctor said seriously.

“They can do that?” Sarah asked, with some shock.

“They can,” the Doctor said, ominously.

“That’s not good!”

“I agree, which is why you’re staying here,” the Doctor said firmly.

“You could stop it from happening, right?” She said in a hopeful tone.

“There’s no guarantee. Stay in the TARDIS,” the Doctor replied.

“Yes, Doctor,” Sarah said, with a flash of indignation in her eyes.

The Doctor knew that she would try to argue with the Time Lords. He wished that he had warned Jamie and Zoe...

“Return to the library.” He said after a moment.

Sarah agreed. She turned around and headed back in the direction of the library. The Doctor re-entered the wood panelled console room.

“Now what’s on the local news program, eh?” The Doctor switched the scanner onto one of the Capitol’s media channels.

“ _Around me in these high galleries of the Panopticon already the Time Lords are gathering, donning seldom worn robes with their colourful collar insignia. The scarlet and orange of the Prydonians, the green of the Arcalians, the heliotrope of the Patrexes, and so on. And the one question that is on all their lips, the question of the day, as His Supremacy leaves public life, is who will he name as his successor?”_

“Oh no, it’s Runcible. Runcible the Fatous,” the Doctor knew it couldn’t be good.

“ _In a moment, I hope to talk to Cardinal Borusa, the leader of the Prydonian Chapter, the Chapter that has produced more Time Lord Presidents than all other Chapters put together, and perhaps get an answer to this question._ ”

‘Yes,’ the Doctor thought.

On the screen, Runcible stopped a figure that was coming down some stairs. “ _Cardinal Borusa, if you can spare a moment, sir_.”

“ _Yes?_ ” Borusa asked.

“ _Public Register Video,_ ” Runcible said, identifying his broadcaster. “ _If I could ask you a few questions_.”

“ _Good gracious. Runcible, is it not?_ ”

“ _Yes, sir_.”

“ _One of my old pupils at Prydon Academy_ ,” Borusa smiled thinly.

“ _May I congratulate you sir, on your elevation to Cardinal?_ ” Runcible smiled politely at him.

“ _Thank you, Runcible. Good day._ ”

“ _No, no, wait, sir. Please if I could ask you a few questions._ ” Runcible’s pleading became more desperate.

“ _Runcible, you had ample opportunity to ask me questions during your mis-spent years at the Academy. You failed to avail yourself of the opportunity then and it is too late now._ _Good day._ ” Borusa said, blowing off the journalist.

Runcible turned to the camera. “ _I’m afraid Cardinal Borusa cannot, at this present moment in the time band, commit himself. However, it is certainly no secret that a very senior member of the Prydonian Chapter, and the present number two in the Time Lord Council, Chancellor Goth, is the widely fancied candidate._ ”

“Oh, get off,” the Doctor said. He switched the Scanner to see what was happening outside the TARDIS.

“ _There’s no way this Doctor can enter the Capitol from the tower, is there?_ ” Chancellor Goth asked.

“ _Not unless he’s got the help of an accomplice,_ ” the Castellan said.

“ _From within?_ ” Chancellor Goth looked at the Castellan.

“ _Perhaps he’s gone to the tower to shake off his pursuers while somebody inside lifts the barrier_ ,” _The Castellan suggested._

“ _What an inventive suspicious mind you have, Spandrell._ ” Goth pointed at the TARDIS. “ _So this is an old type Forty_.”

“ _Its shape was infinitely variable_.”

“ _Remarkably good condition. What are you going to do with it?_ ”

“ _I hadn’t thought. I was more interested in its operator_ ,” the Castellan mused.

“ _Well I wouldn’t leave it here in case he tries to sneak back. Transduct it to the Capitol_.”

“ _Very well, sir_.”

“ _Oh, and, er, keep me informed on the progress on the conspiracy_ ,” Goth said as a dismissal.

“ _Of course_ ,” Spandrell said. He turned to a guard. “ _Transduct this to the museum_.”

The Doctor waited as the TARDIS was transducted to a museum.

Sarah arrived at the console in the library in time to see the transduction in progress. “The Time Lords are more advanced than I thought,” she said to herself. She turned around and looked at the large quantity of books. “I better get started.”

Shortly after the TARDIS appeared in the museum the Doctor emerged. “What a way to travel. But which way the Panopticon?” It had been a long time since the Doctor had left Gallifrey...

He looked around the museum and found a suit of Time Lord regalia. “It would have to do.”

Sarah turned from the books, which were mostly about Earth history, and went back to the console. “Now, the Time Lords have to have a version of the BBC, or something similar. I don’t think they’d be like the Americans...”

The TARDIS decided to be helpful. The console flashed up some information for Sarah.

Public Register Video – Gallifrey’s Primary Public Video Information Service.

...

“Oh, Ok. Switch it on,” Sarah directed.

The TARDIS got the gist of Sarah’s direction, and put on Public Register Video, right in the middle of one of Runcible’s monologues...

The Doctor entered one of the robing rooms being used by the older Time Lords.

“You know, I remember the inaugural of Pandek the Third,” one said.

“Really?” another said.

“Yeah, nine hundred years, he lasted. Now there was a President with staying power, what?” the first said, as he put his gown on a coat hook. The Doctor saw his opportunity and took it, grabbing the gown...

“What?”

“Staying power,” he grabbed empty space. “Where the dickens is my gown?”

“Nine hundred years, eh?” The other raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

“I could have sworn it was here a second ago,” The first said in bemusement.

“Here you are, sir,” the Doctor said, handing the Time Lord the gold robes from the museum. He helped him into the robes.

“Ah, thank you. Most kind. Yes, very different from the fellows nowadays, what? They're chopping and changing every couple of centuries.”

The other Time Lord saw what he was wearing. “You're not gold, are you?

The Doctor then exited the robing room...

Sarah was annoyed, Public Register Video had switched from its live transmission to a short documentary on the outgoing Time Lord President. “ _We shall return to the live coverage in a few minutes_.”

The Doctor entered the Panopticon. He saw Runcible. “Runcible, my dear chap. How nice to see you,” he said as he approached.

“What? Oh, I don’t believe we’ve... er. Oh, I say/ Weren’t you expelled or something? Some scandal?” Runcible nearly snarked.

“Oh, It’s all been forgotten about now, old boy.” The Doctor waved his hand.

“Oh, really? Well, where have you been all these years?”

“Oh, here and there, you know, Round and about,” the Doctor answered enigmatically. He saw some guards and bent over.

“Is there something the matter?” Runcible asked.

“Oh no, just a twinge in the knee.”

“Well, if you lead such a rackety life. Have you had a facelift?” Runcible asked curiosly.

“Several, so far.”

“Yes, well, nice to have met you. I must get on. I’m doing the PR videocast.” Runcible said, stiffly.

“Yes, and splendidly so, if I may say so.”

“Oh, do you think so?”

“Oh, it's a gift. Somehow you have a wonderful way of making the whole thing come alive,” the Doctor said, trying to keep a straight face.

“Oh, that's very nice of you,” Runcible said as some organ chords could be heard. “Oh, that'll be the President now. He's just arrived at the Panopticon.”

The Doctor remembered the vision he had had of the assassination. He looked at the gallery.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Runcible asked.

“What? Yes.”

Runcible was distracted. “Come on, you stupid yoik.”

“What?” the Doctor asked, unsure if Rucible was referring to him.

“I should be getting a signal from my camera technician up there.”

The Doctor looked over and saw a rifle on a railing. “No!” he called out. He then ran off through the crowd of Time Lords dislodging his headdress in the process... “Let me go! Let me go!”

Sarah was still watching. She had seen the trailing end of the Doctor’s talk with Runcible. “ _Just a little disturbance here in the Panopticon, as the President starts to ascend. Already the members of the High Council, led by Chancellor Goth, are moving forward to greet His Supremacy._ ”

The Doctor entered the gallery and quickly got behind the rifle. He saw someone down in the main chamber aim a hand weapon at the President. ‘No!’ He grabbed the rifle and fired...

Sarah saw the President collapse. ‘Oh no!


End file.
